Help! My Fish are dying left and right!

J

Joe

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About 2 weeks ago had a flame angle die. No signs of ick or other disease (pic below). From about that time I also have not seen our gold head goby who lives in one of the rocks.... feared dead.Then this morning my wife txt me and says many of the fish have white spots (they were fine last night) (pic below). Then by the time I get home this afternoon, less than 5 hours later, two of my clowns have died..... I am going to do a fresh water dip and start treating with non carbon Ick be gone stuff....As of about a week ago all my levels were fine..... almost all 0's for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.... PH was about 8.3 I think. A few weeks a go I added an ATO and it messed up and brought the salinity down.... but this has been fixed for at least a week. What could this be? Does Ick kill that fast! over night?Also, there are these white spots that started showing up on the back of the tank.... Not sure what they are and if they might be part of it. View attachment 1395View attachment 1396
 
I would test ammonia, nitrate and even nitrite to see what you are at currently. If nitrite and ammonia detectable or nitrate high I would do immediate big water change. I don't think ich can do that much damage that fast but not sure. I have one with ich and started treatment but has never seemed affected by it and seems healthy. It is starting to go away with treatment.
 
I'm not sure but that on their stomach look like parasites. do you have a quarantine tank? If not I would setup one and treat fish there prior to introducing it to your main reef.
 
The white spots may be velvet; not sure have never gotten a sick fish; I have miracle mud in my refugium and I feed garlic drops daily.
 
OK, so I just went through this myself.When was the last time you added a new Fish?It could be Ich ( I doubt it since the fish are dying fast), Velvet (exhibits the same symptoms as Ich but the fish usually die within 12 hours), or it could be Flukes (similar symptoms as the other two but a few different behaviors).I would definetely recommend a QT tank and fast.  Use Cupramine and Prazipro.  If you don't have a QT tank, I wouldn't dose your DT with Cupramine, but I would dose Prazipro.  Prazipro is reef safe. Cupramine will help with Ich and Velvet.  Prazipro will help with Flukes.
 
Looking at the picture of one of your clowns, it looks like some dark splotches, which is an indication of flukes. 
 
The white specks on the back glass of your tank are spirorbid worms, harmless filter feeders. Here's a link to what those are.  http://www.melevsreef.com/node/360Regarding your fish losses, stress can affect the fish's immune system and in that weakened state a parasite like Ich could definitely attack the swimmers.  The more stable your tank, the stronger your fish will be.
 
Posted by: jenkinscrew Jose said:
I'm dosing garlic rx 10 drops per day, but when I make my own food I actually blend garlic with aloe and mix it with my food then freeze.
Click to expand...
 
I think I remember Joe picking up a tank at the Glass Aquatics garage sale.  I think his plan was to use it as a QT.  He got spooked after the NoPoX incident and wanted to set up a QT.Joe, if you've yet to set it up, you can always bring the remaining survivors over and I'll treat them in my QT for you if that helps.
 
A 5 minute fresh water dip followed by a 90 minute acriflavine bath can buy you time if it is velvet or possibly brook. The 5 minute fresh water dip in a dark container can also reveal flukes if they are present. Ultimately, you will need to treat your survivors soonest in Cu or CP for 30 days in a QT--not safe for your DT. The DT will need to remain fallow for at least 6 weeks for velvet but you should wait at least 76 days just in case it is ich. Also, bacterial infections could be secondary results of parasite infestations.I went thru something very similar last December with my new tank (thought I could beat the odds) and am only just now getting back to normal in a disease-free DT. From now on [everything wet] gets quarantined. There is just too much bad stuff going rampant in the supply chain right now.
 
I would say this is definitely not ich, I have never heard of ich killing anything in less than even 3 days. I agree it sounds like velvet or possibly brook. Flukes sounds unlikely given how fast they are dying, worth noting that many fish can live with flukes basically forever, usually not something that will kill your fish unless it gets really out of control.
 
Thanks everyone for the great input! .... So I've set up a QT and have the remaining survivors in there. I'm and doing Cupramine in the QT tank. Then in the display than we are doing PraziPro. Not a 100% sure if this was flukes or velvet..... Treating for both. The clown fish and the yellow tang have been in QT for about 4 full days and looking a lot better. Just was able to catch the fire fish yesterday, i think they are still just freaked out.I do have a question though, does anyone know what these things in the picture below are? Way too big to be fish poo.... I have not put anything in the tank that even looks like this or reaches that size. Thanks again!JoeView attachment 1433
 
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